Posted 9:14 AM by bob
SUSAN ESTRICH RIPS THE LA TIMES A NEW ONE, IN THE LA TIMES! California is great!

But none of these women, as The Times emphasizes, ever came forward to complain. The newspaper went looking for them, and then waited until five days before the election to tell the fragments of the story.

What this story accomplishes is less an attack on Schwarzenegger than a smear on the press. It reaffirms everything that's wrong with the political process. Anonymous charges from years ago made in the closing days of a campaign undermine fair politics.

Facing these charges, a candidate has two choices. If he denies them, the story keeps building and overshadows everything else he does. Schwarzenegger's bold apology is a gamble to make the story go away. It may or may not work.

But here's my prediction, as a Californian: It's too late for the Los Angeles Times' charges to have much impact. People have made up their minds. This attack, coming as late as it does, from a newspaper that has been acting more like a cheerleader for Gray Davis than an objective source of information, will be dismissed by most people as more Davis-like dirty politics. Is this the worst they could come up with? Ho-hum. After what we've been through?

Posted 9:03 AM by bob
JACK SHAFER HAS THE BEST ARTICLE YET about the Plame-Wilson leak scandal:

Readers find themselves in the position of an audience watching a play in which the curtain is drawn. We hear the noise of voices and shuffling feet and an occasional scream, but can't follow the story. That's not likely to change overnight, but if this scandal spreads and the dueling leaks continue to stream in from anonymous and thinly veiled sources, don't automatically expect the newspapers and the networks to decode the messages. You'll have to do it yourself. Ask, Who leaked? Why did they leak? Who was hurt and helped by the leak? Which reporters carried water for their sources? And most important, Which sources spoke most candidly and honestly on the record, and where were their voices heard? [bold emphasis added, italics in original]

Posted 8:45 AM by bob
I HAVE READ MANY OPINIONS about Rush Limbaugh's recent comments about Donovan McNabb, none defending him - except Allen Barra:

Rush Limbaugh didn't say Donovan McNabb was a bad quarterback because he is black. He said that the media have overrated McNabb because he is black, and Limbaugh is right. He didn't say anything that he shouldn't have said, and in fact he said things that other commentators should have been saying for some time now. I should have said them myself. I mean, if they didn't hire Rush Limbaugh to say things like this, what they did they hire him for? To talk about the prevent defense?

Posted 3:09 PM by bob
DON MALCOLM (BBBB) TAKES HIS FAVORITE STATISTICAL BREAKDOWN, team performance vs good and bad teams, and looks at the playoff teams (and also rans):

The Twins played three times as many games against teams with records under .500 than they did winning teams over the last two months of the season, and they reverted to form against doormats. If you take out their July swoon against bad teams, the Twins played close to .700 ball in those games (47-19). They played more than half of their games against good teams in the first two months of the 2003 season, and it just might be that their May rebound is what kept them in the hunt despite all of their mid-season floundering around (11-14 vs. good, 11-17 vs. bad). Getting to that soft schedule at the end of the year didn’t hurt, either.

Posted 2:43 PM by bob
SEATTLE MARINERS OFFSEASON: PART I
This is the first post, of a series (length: unknown), detailing what I think the Mariners ought to do this offseason. I will be looking at who to resign, who to let go, who to trade, who to acquire in trade, and who to sign as a free agent.
Part I is an analysis of what the current status is.

Rotation:
Jamie Moyer is under contract through 2005.
Joel Pineiro is under team control. He is arbitration eligible.
Freddy Garcia is under team control. He is arbitration eligible.
Ryan Franklin is under team control. He is arbitration eligible.
Gil Meche is under team control. He is arbitration eligible.

Bullpen:
Kazuhiro Sasaki is under contract through 2004.
Arthur Rhodes is a free agent.
Shigetoshi Hasegawa is a free agent.
Armando Benitez is a free agent.
Julio Mateo is under team control. He is not arbitration eligible, I think.
Rafael Soriano is under team control. He is not arbitration eligible, I think.
Rett Johnson is under team control. He is not arbitration eligible.
Aaron Looper is under team control. He is not arbitration eligible.
J.J. Putz is under team control. He is not arbitration eligible.
Aaron Taylor is under team control. He is not arbitration eligible.
Brian Sweeney is under team control. He is not arbitration eligible.
Matt Thornton is under team control. He is not arbitration eligible.

Catcher:
Dan Wilson is under contract through 2004.
Ben Davis is under team control, I believe. If so, he is arbitration eligible. If he isn't, he is a free agent.
Pat Borders is a free agent.

First Base:
John Olerud is under contract through 2004.
Greg Colbrunn is under contract through 2004.
John Mabry is under team control. The team has an option to bring him back for 2004, or they can buy him out. If they buy him out, he will be a free agent.

Designated Hitter:
Edgar Martinez is a free agent.

Second Base:
Bret Boone is under contract through 2005.

Shortstop:
Carlos Guillen is under team control. He is arbitration eligible.
Luis Ugueto is under team control. He is not arbitration eligible.
Mark McLemore is a free agent.
Rey Sanchez is a free agent.

Third Base:
Jeff Cirillo is under contract through 2005.
Willie Bloomquist is under team control. He is not arbitration eligible.

Outfield:
Randy Winn is under team control, I believe. If so, he is arbitration eligible. If not, he is a free agent.
Mike Cameron is a free agent.
Ichiro Suzuki is under team control. He is arbitration eligible.
Jamal Strong is under team control. He is not arbitration eligible.
Chad Meyers is under team control. He is arbitration eligible, I think.

Posted 2:21 PM by bob
GREGG EASTERBROOK ON DEMOCRATIC TOMFOOLERY:

This is why, while Republicans may be fossil-foolish, Democrats are engaged in demagoguery over the Renewable Portfolio Standard. The rule just wouldn't work as written, and Democrats know this perfectly well. Their version of the rule would exempt municipal-owned power producers, almost all of whom are in the Democratic Northeast, or in Democratic California. So if Democrats had their way, the new standard would apply to private power companies in red states, but not to public power companies in blue states. This is egregious political double standards.

A more modest goal for pollution-free power--say, adding one percent in the coming decade, and two percent in the next--might be practical. But Republican leadership might go for that deal, and therefore Democrats have demanded something impractical, exactly so that the provision can fail and the president and his party be denounced.

Posted 9:19 AM by bob
REGARDING VALERIE PLAME:
From the LA Times:

Wilson's wife works with Foley in the CIA's Nonproliferation Center.

But David Manners, a former CIA case agent in the Middle East, said such concerns were probably unnecessary. "If the implication is she ran clandestine operations around the world using her true name, then the real story is: What kind of crazy operation was she running? Because if you're operating clandestinely under your true name, you're a fool."

Posted 4:00 PM by bob
I CAN'T REALLY BELIEVE IT, BUT THIS MADE ME TEAR UP A LITTLE:

Some time this winter, one of the thousands of people who stood and applauded and would not sit down Sunday will walk by Safeco Field some cold, drizzly afternoon and hear a crack every couple of seconds, and curious, they'll walk around the stadium for a glimpse inside to see Edgar, bundled up, pitching machine set on the mound with a huge bucket of baseballs, practicing his swing, roping balls down the left field line, double, double, double. And the fan's going to watch for a minute, take out his cell phone, and start calling everyone in the city. And if it doesn't happen, we're still going to walk by and listen for it, and if there's nothing, well, maybe he'll be there the next day.

And if he doesn't come back, at least we told him we loved him.

Posted 2:52 PM by bob
BIOGRAPHIES OF FORMER AMBASSADOR TOM WILSON:
Middle East Institute - he was/is an "Adjunct Scholar" for them.
Corporate & Public Strategy and Advisory Group - he was/is a "Strategic Advisor" for them.
Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, UCSB - he was (Wednesday, January 22) a speaker for the "Global Forces in the Post-Cold War World" Lecture Series.

Posted 12:32 PM by bob
KING KAUFMAN SAYS IT BEST:

And a note to Sox fans: Ortiz is the shiznit, but you don't get to be the MVP by playing in only 128 games with no time spent on the disabled list.